I respect your point of view, but I disagree. But, if we want to play the straight and narrow route, I got you there too, and with multiple, equally dreadful vehicles that should have been junked, rather than driven. However, youthful optimism, limited radius of travel, AAA Plus, and a severely limited vehicle…

Oh, I win. Or at least I have an interesting take on this. Hear me out.

I present the first-gen Honda Ridgeline.

The Honda Ridgeline, adequate in almost every way, and therein lies the problem. It is the perfect blend of adequacy and practicality, peppered with a heavy, heavy dose of Honda reliability. You’ll be bored…

Here’s my take. The Lehigh sticker on the back window gives me a reason to believe that this may have lived some or most of its life in the northeast or other region of the rust belt. Particularly as this is an AWD family hauler, I bet it was used during all sorts of weather, including slushy, salty winter roads.

Thoug…

This is definitely one of those situations where, one can say, “your mileage will vary.”

The last day of the month was one of my favorites. It used to make sense. I think it will return. I can’t imagine that the big automakers won’t return to stuffing dealers with inventory again as soon as they can. Don’t manufacturers count the revenue when the unit is sent to a dealer and floor planned? This is why I…

I’m curious if there is an analyst or an economist that’s smart enough to piece together Carvana’s impact on the global economy. Runaway inflation is multi-faceted, but does Carvana’s aggressive used car pricing have a significant contribution to the economy? I can’t imagine that they’d be that impactful, but it would…

Universally? We didn’t sell our car to them, but they outmatched any other buyer or dealer. In the end, the selling dealer went over their trade amount to close the deal. We ended up getting a deal on the trade and the new car. I know the dealer had to have made a profit on our transaction, I’m just not sure how.

Like most financial decisions, car buying and used car trade-ins are not single faceted. I can say that smart buyers and sellers lay out all of variables. The tax offset of a trade has some value, and it should be a factor in evaluating deals. 

I have to say that within my circles, the opposite has been true on both the buying and selling side. In fact, I’m utterly impressed that of the many people I know who’ve bought, or sold with Carvana that it was as smooth and easy as the company purports. Of course, I’m but one person with just my experience to share.…

The coupes are especially rare. I’ve had wagon and sedan 240s, never had the good fortune to find a coupe where the juice was worth the squeeze. The Bertone coupes are sweet, this one is not one of those.

I’m a huge fan of the Volvo 240s. I’ve owned a few, thought it has been years. They were unreasonably enjoyable. Despite being as aero as a shipping container and having a straight axle in the rear, they handled reasonably well with a beefy set of IPD sway bars and urethane bushings. I even converted one to a V8 after…

Give it two more doors, suicide those doors, and this will find a place in my garage.

People can say what they want about the Murano ‘vert, but I absolutely love them, on the rare occasions when I see one on the road. They’re so weird and playful that it is impossible not be genuinely in love of them. I know that’s…

Has Toyota lowered their standards? Have they abandoned Kaizen? Do they care about fostering the brand loyalty they’ve spent more than half of a century building?

We recently abandoned our waitlist deposit with Toyota to go with a different brand. The other brand treated us with respect, honesty, and fairness to the…

I understand and I agree that no airline is perfect. However, with my high frequency of flying, United has consistently gotten to me to my destinations on time, without drama, or delay. Because of my destinations, United happens to also have better schedules and more non-stops. When I do not fly United, it is usually…

Big bummer, and that stinks. Glad you got home.

For what it’s worth, and from someone who flies frequently, United has been my go-to since the days of Continental. I also tend to like EWR once I’m actually in the airport. The whole tablet ordering thing is completely goofy to me. I could do without that nonsense. 

While…

My AAA experience has been overwhelmingly positive, but not perfect. I hit my limit on service calls after one of their batteries failed an a replacement was months away because of supply chain challenges. I was more or less told to pound sand and wait out the rest of the calendar year.

But, AAA has saved my butt and…

Wireless charging as it stands is still a good option to extend range. I’m assuming the science behind it will yield continued improvements in performance. 

Thank you for being a north star of logic and reason. I agree.

G.I. Joe has nothing on you. You’re a real American hero.

We drove foreign cars in my house when I was a kid. Our vans were of foreign origin. They were great, but there was something I loved about American vans, particularly the luxobarge Chevy G conversion vans. But I equally admired some of the later styled Astro…

I admire car people. We’re a special bunch. For me, one of the most fun parts of browsing car ads is learning the stories of their owners. Sometimes, listings don’t offer stories. In those cases, I tend to make up my own.
This time, I wrote a story, that tries to make sense of an $8k asking price for a 1988 Yugo. All…